Harry Potter's Last Battle
by TerribleBeautyX
Summary: How I would have Book 7 end. Will Voldemort be destroyed? Will Harry survive? Who will die and what will be lost...? Some romance between two people you wouldn't expect. Chapter 4 uploaded, please R&R!
1. It Seems Like This Is The End

Harry Potter's Last Battle  
  
My ideas of the last few chapters of book 7  
  
It isn't very great, but it's my first fanficiton. I haven't mapped out how the rest of the story is going to go but I don't think it will be too long, as you can see, it already starts off in the middle of a confrontation. The rest will play out as a cat and mouse game and then--a fight to the finish.  
  
Chapter One--  
  
Harry stood transfixed. He couldn't take his eyes off Voldemort and Ron. Harry didn't know what he was going to do, Voldemort was going to kill Ron and he didn't know how to stop it. "Don't be stupid enough to try and kill me, Harry," Voldemort sneered, "You'll hit your friend. You don't want that, do you?" Voldemort was holding Ron as a shield, his wand at Ron's neck. It was true, if Harry tried to kill Voldemort, he would most definitely kill Ron too. "Put your wand down, surrender yourself and I'll spare your friend. That's what you want, isn't it? To be the hero and save your friends?" Harry was shaking, if he surrendered himself, he was going to die but if he didn't Ron would...Voldemort was growing impatient, he smacked Ron in the back of Ron's head. Ron collapsed to the floor, clouching the back of his head. "_Crucio_!" Voldemort yelled, his wand pointed at Ron. Ron twisted and turned on floor, howling in excruciating pain. "Nooooo!" Harry yelled. Voldemort lifted his wand, "What was that? I couldn't hear over all the screaming..." Ron rolled over and looked at Harry, "Don't do it, Harry. Don't give in." Harry suddenly realized he was crying, something he never did. But he knew: this was the end. When Harry spoke it was nothing more than a whisper but it was heard all the same, "Let Ron and Hermione go...," Hermione was unconscious on the floor. Harry wasn't sure what she was hit with but Voldemort had told him, "She isn't dead...yet."  
  
"Let Ron and Hermione go... and I'll surrender."  
  
"No! Harry, don't be stupid!" Ron shouted.  
  
"Shut up, idiot boy." Voldemort said, kicking Ron in the back. "Well, it seems this is the end of Harry Potter, I will spare your friend Ron but I'm afraid I'll have to kill the mudblood, don't bother arguing, that is as generous as I'm going to get. If you'd rather have me kill all three of you, I would be more than glad to." Hermione stirred, she was waking up. Harry and Ron looked at eachother terrified. But Harry was struck with a sudden idea, he didn't know if it would work, but he had to try something. He continued to stare at Ron, Harry wasn't blinking, he was moving his eyes in Hermione's direction. Ron gave the slightest of nods and Harry knew he understood. "So, I suppose you'll want to be killing me now, huh?" Harry asked. "That's the plan, yes." Voldemort retorted.  
  
"Well, are you going to ask me for my last request?" Harry asked again.   
  
Ron was crawling across the floor towards Hermione...  
  
"What? And why would I do that?"  
  
"All executioners ask their prisoners for a last request before they kill them."  
  
"Ahh, but I am not an executioner. I am simply a wizard doing what he must to ensure his survival. And to survive, I have to kill you."  
  
"If you only wish to stay alive, you don't need to kill Hermione. She's not a threat to you."  
  
Ron was almost there. Hermione opened her eyes.  
  
"Not a threat, no. But I have to kill her for the principle of it, her being a mudblood and all that. How would it look, if Lord Voldemort had let her go? No, no, no, she must be killed."  
  
"Right, because you're such a wizard of principles." Harry spat.  
  
"_Crucio_!"  
  
Knives were piercing every part of Harry's body, but he didn't care. As long as Ron got to Hermione...  
  
But Ron had done something stupid, he stopped crawling towards Hermione and was watching Harry in horror. Hermione sat up and she did something stupid as well. She jumped up, and not having her wand with her, did the only thing she could think of. Before Voldemort had even realized she was awake, he was on the ground, knocked over by the seventeen year old, mudblood witch.   
  
In an instant, Ron ran over and pulled Hermione off Voldemort. It was much harder than he would have thought, Hermione was hitting, kicking, shaking and screaming at Voldemort. "Hermione! Stop it, come on! HERMIONE!" Harry came over to help now, he grabbed Hermione around the waist and with the help of Ron holding onto Hermione's arm, he was able to drag her away. "Hermione, why did you do that?" Harry asked astounded.   
  
"Why the bloody hell do you think I did that? I couldn't let him keep torturing you." She then looked over at Voldemort, he was unconscious. "He must have hit his head on the floor when I knocked him over. We should get out of here before he wakes up."  
  
"We can't just leave him here so that when he wakes up he can just go after Harry again." Ron said, "Harry? What do you want to do with him?"  
  
"That's obvious.... I'll have to kill him." Harry answered softly.  
  
"Harry! You can't do that. Do you really want to be a murderer? He's unconscious, let's just get out of here." Hermione said.  
  
"Look, Hermione, we don't even know how to get out of here. And even if I don't want to be a murderer, I have no choice, and it's not like anyone but his filthy Death Eaters would miss him." Harry walked over and picked up Voldemort's wand, "I don't even know if this is going to work. I've never done it before." Harry took several steps, backing away from Voldemort, he looked at Ron and Hermione, they both looked back at him. Ron nodded his approval but Hermione looked distressed, "Harry, killing Voldemort can't possibly be this easy...What if the spell rebounds and hits you?"  
  
"Nobody died to save him, he doesn't have the protection Harry had." Ron reminded her. Harry closed his eyes and pointed his wand at Voldemort's body, he tried to muster all his hate and anger so his spell would be strong enough. He was about to do it....he was going to do it now....right...now...He opened his eyes, he couldn't understand why this was so hard. He couldn't understand why he didn't want to kill him, after everything Voldemort had to done to him...Harry suddenly saw his parents, in the back of his head, and Harry remembered how much he hurt everybody good, all the innocent people he killed....and before he knew what he was doing, he screamed, "_Avada Kedavra_!" 


	2. Nicola Lestrange

Harry Potter's Last Battle--  
  
--I own all new characters--   
  
I know the last chapter was short, this one is longer, don't worry. I'm open to constructive criticism, so, if you have anything useful to say, feel free to tell me. And if you like the story, please review. I could use the support.  
  
Chapter Two-  
  
Nothing happened. "It didn't work," Ron said, "Voldemort's still breathing."  
  
"I don't understand....I meant it, I tried with everything I could, all the hate in my body..." Harry said.  
  
Hermione looked at Voldemort's body with a curiously thoughtful expression on her face, "Maybe it's a sign that it wasn't supposed to be this way, that this isn't how it's supposed to end," she said softly, still looking at Voldemort.  
  
"How else am I supposed to kill him then? When is it supposed to happen, huh?" Harry asked angrily. "I'm just supposed to wait around until--" Harry stopped talking abruptly. Somebody was coming.....  
  
-------------------  
  
It was late December. Harry, Ron and Hermione were enjoying the first Hogsmade visit they had in some time. For his student's safety, Dumbledore had banned Hogsmade visits the year before when Voldemort had been suspected to be in the area. But, luckily for the students who were bored being stuck inside, Voldemort was recently sighted three hundred miles north of Hogwarts, rendering the ban lifted until further notice.  
  
"I can't believe Voldemort allowed himself to be sighted. He hasn't actually been seen since that night in the Ministry of Magic--" Ron cut off. Him, Harry and Hermione never talked about that night. Ron swallowed a sip of butterbeer and looked at his hands.  
  
"I know, it's rather reckless of him." Hermione said sounding as if nothing awkward had happened. She always thought it was stupid that they nevered talked about it, she thought they needed to but out of respect for Harry, never said anything. Harry nodded.  
  
Suddenly, Hermione almost fell off her chair starring at the door. An extremely gorgeous girl with long, lightly wavy jet black hair, hooded green eyes and a mouth that was somehow always smirking walked into The Three Broomsticks. Harry jumped out of his seat and made for the exit, he brushed passed the girl and ran out into the cold winter air. She always had this affect on Harry, Ron and Hermione. First, Hermione would drop whatever she was holding and stare horror-struck at Harry, Harry would run out of where ever he was without saying anything and Ron would sit dumb-founded not noticing anything until well after Hermione was running after Harry.   
  
Ron and Hermione found Harry sitting on steps that led to a path in the less commercialized section of Hogsmade. "You can't let Nicola keep doing this to you, Harry." Hermione said but she sounded sympathetic all the same. "She's been attending Hogwarts for a year and a half now and just because she's--"  
  
"--The woman who killed my godfather's daughter doesn't mean I should act like it's the same person. Yes, I've heard this lecture before Hermione, but thanks." Harry said angrily.   
  
"Well, it's true! She's not Bellatrix. You agree, right Ron?"  
  
"Close enough," Ron admitted. "She looks exactly like her, except, you know, younger."   
  
Nicola Lestrange. Daughter of the Lestranges Bellatrix and Rodolphus. When her parents were sent to Azkaban, she was just a baby. Nicola was sent to France to live with cousins, where she stayed until almost two years ago. The summer after her parents escaped, her cousins moved up to London so Nicola could be closer to them, even if she couldn't actually be with them. Ever since then, she has attended Hogwarts as an exchange student transfered from Beauxbatons. She was sorted into Slytherin.  
  
"See," Harry spat at Hermione.   
  
"Look, I don't like her much either but if you keep behaving like this we're never going to be able to finish a whole butterbeer." Hermione said jokingly. "You have to face your fears."  
  
"I'm not afaid of her!" Harry yelled, jumping up and glaring at Hermione. Hermione looked unfazed by this sudden outburst, "Yes, you are," Hermione said in her calmest of voices.  
  
"I am not!"   
  
Hermione now looked slightly unpatient, "You're afraid of what she makes you remember," she said. And Harry didn't say anything after that.   
  
As they entered the great hall for supper that evening, Nicola was standing in the doorway with a group of Slytherin girls talking animatedly about something. Hermione looked annoyed, it seemed she was tired of running after Harry and she thought she was going to have to do it in a moment. But Harry walked right passed Nicola and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Ron and Hermione exchanged sideways glances and then walked over and sat down next to Harry. "I'm not afraid," Harry said.  
  
A few weeks passed and things happened pretty normally. Harry no longer ran away from Nicola, even if he may have wanted to. They only had one class together, Potions, which was a blessing and a curse. Snape still loved to torture Harry in anyway he could, he knew Harry hated to be around Nicola but-- "This next potion is going to require that you work with a partner, " Snape had said one potion lesson. "I will assign your assistant. Now let's see--" Snape stared around the class, "Granger you may work with Walters. Malfoy, you will be working with Parkinson," He paused, "Ahh, yes. Potter, you will be working with Lestrange, collect your things, both of you. Since neither of your desks are large enough for two people to work, you may use this table." Snape gestured to the table in front of the class and then continued to pair off students. Harry packed up his things in a trance, he was barely aware of what he was doing, which, he thought, was probably a good thing. He walked up to the desk and put his things onto it, Nicola did the same a moment later. Snape then gave instructions on how to make the potion, but Harry wasn't listening. He was determined to stay in his semi-unconscious state. "Excuse me but will you please help me?" Nicola said angrily, five minutes later. Harry looked at her slowly, she was starring back at him with an annoyed expression on her face. "All right." Harry said rather softly. He then began to shred some of the herbs and a minute later noticed Nicola was still starring at him. "What are you starring at?" Harry asked.  
  
"You," said Nicola.  
  
"And why are you starring at me?" Harry asked angrily.  
  
"Because I never had the chance to before. Not this close, anyway.... You have nice eyes."  
  
Harry then began to cut his herbs again and didn't say anything.  
  
"You know, if you'd have paid attention, you'd know that you're supposed to be shredding the rosemary roots vertically, not diagnally."   
  
Harry continued to shred the roots...in the same direction.   
  
"So...what? You're not going to listen to me? Alright then." Nicola then turned around and looked at the classroom, "Proffessor Snape? Harry isn't shredding his roots properly, I told him he was doing it wrong but he didn't listen to me. Can I have a new partner?" Snape walked over to the desk and starred down at the roots, "Detention, Potter. Your neglect to follow rules has now cost a fellow, innocent student to get bottom marks for todays lesson."  
  
But was she that innocent?  
  
------------------------  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione were trapped. There was no other way out of the room except for one door, and since someone was about to come through it, that door wasn't an option.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Hermione whispered frightened.  
  
"Shut up. They'll hear you..." Harry said pointing Voldemort's wand at the door.   
  
Less than a minute later, Bellatrix entered the room, followed closely by her daughter. 


	3. Love and Hate

Harry Potter's Last Battle-  
  
My ideas on how I think book seven will end.  
  
Ahh! Nobody's reviewing, please please review and tell me if I should continue or not! I'm actually liking how it's turning out and I would like to keep writing it but I would like someone's opinion....Anyway...  
  
Chapter 3-  
  
"_Accio_ wand!" Bellatrix shouted as soon as she walked through the door way, Nicola a few steps behind her. Voldemort's wand flew out of Harry's hand and into hers, "This doesn't belong to you," she said.  
  
This was the first time Harry had seen Bellatrix since that night in the Ministry of Magic when she had killed Sirius. He couldn't move, he felt light headed but full of hatred. He felt cold. Bellatrix almost had the effect of a dementor on him.  
  
"It doesn't belong to you either," Hermione said angrily but her voice shook. Harry couldn't speak. He felt like he was going to fall over but he couldn't understand why. Why was she affecting him like this? Voldemort killed plenty of people Harry knew and cared about but he never felt like he was going to collapse ever time he was around _him_.  
  
"No, it doesn't. It belongs to my master and since he's," Bellatrix glanced at Voldemort on the floor, "_indisposed_ at the moment, I don't think he'll mind me holding it for him." Bellatrix smirked then turned around and seeled the door shut, "So, how do you like my home?"  
  
Hermione and Ron glanced at each other, "This is _your_ house?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yes, it is. When I found out you three were coming I was going to tidy up a bit.... But then I remembered you're not going to live to tell anybody what condition my house is in..." Bellatrix smirked again. This last statement finally seemed to wake Harry up slightly, "If Voldemort couldn't kill us, what makes you think you can?"  
  
Bellatrix looked perplexed for a moment. A very brief moment. But she recovered herself with, "Haven't you ever heard the saying 'Never send a man to do a woman's job?' Well, not to speak ill of my master but he sometimes gets a little bit carried away in planning his schemes and runs out of steam for when it is time to execute them." She paused for a moment, "Oh, and not to mention the fact that there's two of us. Don't be fooled by her age, she may be young but she's as deadly as I am." It was now Nicola's turn to smirk, even though she always did, it suddenly became much more pronounced.  
  
"I trusted you!" Harry shouted dramatically.  
  
Nicola giggled evilly. "You are so naive. Did you honestly think I was going to help you three over my own mother?" When neither Hermione, Ron or Harry answered, she giggled again, "You did, didn't you? That's so insanely stupid it's kind of sweet....The wittle children thought I had seen the error of my mother's ways...." Nicola continued in a mock baby voice that sounded uncannily like her mother's.  
  
Harry felt a surge of hatred rise up in him like none he ever felt before. His hatred at the moment was greater than anything he ever felt around the Dursley's, Aunt Marge, Malfoy....even Voldemort and his feeling of light-headedness seemed to evaporate into thin air. Harry suddenly realized why he felt so awful when Bellatrix and Nicola entered the room, it wasn't his past with Bellatrix coming back to haunt him, it had nothing to do with Bellatrix at all...it was his heart breaking. Nicola had betrayed him.   
  
Harry swore at her loudly.  
  
"Aww, Harry. Did I hurt your feelings?"  
  
Harry didn't answer. He was shaking so violently he could have sworn the walls were shaking as well.... Hermione and Ron took a few steps away from him towards the center of the room, staring at Harry looking petrified. Dust was falling from the ceiling, the walls _were_ shaking. Nicola's smirk was wiped clear off her face, even Bellatrix looked scared.  
  
"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione screamed.   
  
Harry didn't answer. He was still standing exactly where he was, staring at Nicola, not moving at all. Bellatrix seemed to sense her daughter was in some sort of danger and did the first thing she could think of. Ron saw what she was doing before Harry did, "Harry, move!" But it was too late, Bellatrix shouted something under her breath before Ron had even opened his mouth. Harry was thrown across the room into a wall, the shaking stopped abruptly and Harry knew no more.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Harry was walking down a dungeon hallway about to go to his detention with Snape. The unfairness of this made Harry's head hurt. Snape knew he couldn't concentrate around Nicola but he paired Harry with her anyway and then _she_ had to go and tell Snape that he wasn't shredding the roots properly. Uck, Harry thought, she reminds me of Malfoy.  
  
Rounding the last corner to Snape's office Harry bumped into the last person that he wanted to see at the moment but he was strangely expecting he was going to anyway... He didn't see her obviously and Harry would have knocked her down a flight of stone steps if he didn't grab her arm at the last possible second after she let out a short but piercing scream.   
  
"Thanks," Nicola said stumbling to stand up straight. "I would have thought you'd be the last person to save me from sustaining an injury."  
  
Harry didn't say anything to that. It was true, he would have liked to see her fall down a flight of steps but he didn't want to be the cause of her doing it. He managed to break the obvious silence with, "What are you doing down here?" Nicola paused for a moment, not like she was trying to think of an excuse but like she was thinking on how to word her excuse properly. "I- I wanted to talk to Proffessor Snape to- to find out if he'd let you get out of detention tonight."  
  
Harry stood there gaping at her. This didn't make any sense, she's the one who got him in detention in the first place. "What? Why would you do that?" Harry asked dumb-founded.  
  
"Well, I thought detention seemed like a very unreasonable punishment for shredding roots in the wrong direction." She answered very matter-of-factly  
  
"Then why the hell did you tell him?" Harry asked angrily.  
  
"Because I thought he'd give me a new partner and I wouldn't be there bothering you anymore."   
  
Harry paused for a moment and then opened his mouth to speak but Nicola held up her hand gestering that he shouldn't. Suddenly she looked very grave. "Look, don't think I don't know what my mother did to you....or anyone else for that matter." She paused for a moment, it seemed this subject was painful...or embarrassing, to her. Harry again opened his mouth like he was going to say something but she cut him off before he could. "I understand how being around me would hurt you so much and I apologize that I was forced to inflict my company upon you last potion lesson.....I thought if I told Snape about the roots he would have forced you to work alone, or at least with someone else...Other than me." When she finished talking there was an awkward silence. Harry didn't know what to say and it appeared Nicola didn't have anything else to say either, "Well, see you around." She then bowed her head slightly as she made to walk away but turned around when she was half way to the end of the hallway, "Oh, and by the way.... You don't have detention anymore." Then she departed completely, leaving a stunned Harry standing there stupidly.   
  
"You are not going to believe what just happened," Harry was telling Ron and Hermione ten minutes later during dinner.   
  
"What? Why aren't you at detention?" Hermione asked bewildered. Harry then explained his confrontation with Nicola.   
  
"You've got to be joking," Ron said when Harry was finished.  
  
"Nope. She was..._nice_." Harry just remembered something Hermione had said, "Hermione?" he asked.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Durning that Hogsmade visit when Nicola came into The Three Broomsticks and afterwards we were sitting on those steps, you said, 'Look, I don't like her much either...' What did you mean by that? Have you ever talked to her before?"   
  
Harry was surprised to see Hermione looked slightly nervous.  
  
"Yeah, I've spoken to her before. We take Arithmancy together," she said.  
  
"Well, why don't you like her?" Ron asked. It seemed Ron was very interested in this story...  
  
"She's just...strange. And she's never been very friendly to me."  
  
"Oh, well. Maybe you weren't being friendly with her. You should make an effort--" Harry began.  
  
"Since when don't I 'make an effort', Harry?"  
  
"I just meant that maybe you should try being nice to her--"  
  
"I never _did_ anything to her and she started behaving like a-a, well whatever. And since when do you _want_ me to make an effort fraternizing with Bellatrix Lestrange's Slytherin daughter? Twenty minutes ago you hated her." Hermione shouted angrily.   
  
Harry looked startled by her outburst, "Look, I just thought--maybe you could have...she was nice to me, that's all."  
  
That was the first time Nicola Lestrange caused a ripple in their friendship. 


	4. Forgotten

Harry Potter's Last Battle--  
  
If I don't get anymore reviews I'm not going to continue this story. So, if you like it just take two minutes to tell me you do. Please, please review!!  
  
Really long chapter, by my standards anyway.  
  
Chapter 4--  
  
A few days went by and Harry and Hermione never discussed their little argument. But secretly Hermione was suspicious, she couldn't believe Harry would take Nicola's side over hers, especially considering who Nicola was.  
Harry and Hermione were decending to the dungeons for their next Potion lesson (Ron wasn't excepted into N.E.W.T. level Potions), they weren't really speaking to each other, Harry was trying to remember how to make a certain healing draught for a test they were going to have today and Hermione didn't want to distract him (she knew how to brew the potion so well she could do it in her sleep.  
They stood up against the wall for about five minutes waiting for Snape to open the door to the classroom when Nicola and her friends arrived in the corridor. When Harry saw her, he just looked at his feet and continued to mumble the instructions to the potion under his breath, Hermione, however, glared at Nicola. Much to Hermione's discomfort, Nicola shook off her friends and walked over to her and Harry. "Granger, do you remember what the Arithmancy homework for this evening is? I seem have forgotten..."  
Hermione scowled for a moment and then replied rather lazily, "We have to define the qualities of a number eight.....remember?" Then she smiled sarcastically sweet.  
"Oh right! Would you mind helping me with that? I've never really understood number charts..." Harry, who never looked up from his feet yet, finally did so and then stared at Hermione as if he was frightened she would say something rude.  
"I'd love to." Hermione answered genuinely.  
Harry looked taken aback. "Great," Nicola said, "How about this evening, 7 o'clock, in the library?" "Perfect--" Hermione was cut off, Snape opened his door.  
"See you later then, Bye Harry." And then Nicola rejoined her friends and filed into the classroom.  
Harry and Hermione followed suit and walked over to their favorite table in the back of the room. "This is absolutely perfect," Hermione said gleefully putting her ingredients on the table.  
"I thought you didn't like Nicola," Harry said frowning.  
"Oh, I don't, but this is the perfect way to spy on her." She said smiling.  
"Hermione. Wha--"  
Snape then addressed the class, "Today you'll be tested on the Egyptian Healing Draught, I hope some of you will prove to me that I haven't completely been wasting my time teaching you numb-skulls--"  
  
"Well, that wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been," Harry said confidently, joining Ron in the great hall for lunch.  
"That's good. Where's Hermione?" Ron asked looking around. Harry looked over his shoulder, he didn't remember her leaving, "Huh, strange... She's probably off some where making a list of questions to interrogate Nicola with tonight."  
"Why would she do that?" Ron asked through a mouth of mashed potatos. "Oh, she's helping Nicola with her Arithmancy homework tonight, something about number charts. Pass me some of those, I'm starving." Harry gestered towards the bowl of potatos, "How was herbology?" (Harry dropped this course in his sixth year)  
"Same as always. We're studying some plant, I think it's called the Lullaby Weed or something like that. It gives off a scent that intoxicates anything around it--Hermione, where've you been?" Ron said. Hermione was taking a seat next to Ron, she was rather out of breath, "Looking for my book," Hermione took a deep breath, "I must have dropped it somewhere. I just noticed," She took another one, "Coming out of Potions, I just retraced all my steps," And another, "Since breakfast; can't find it. Anyway, what have you two been talking about?" Hermione asked finally catching her breath. "Lullaby Weeds...I'm studing them in Herbology," Ron answered. Hermione was half-mindedly helping herself to a salad, "That's good," she said.  
Then Harry and Ron started discussing the quidditch practice they were going to have that night, Hermione, thinking about whether or not she had gotten an 'O' on her Potion, wasn't listening but she caught a few sentences of what they were saying, "Those two are idiots--"  
"I know, we're never going to win anything with them knocking all our players off their brooms."  
Then Hermione remembered something, "Lullaby Weeds?" She asked, looking up from the table so quickly she slightly pulled something in her neck.  
Harry and Ron stopped talking, looking slightly confused, "Uh-huh, why?" Ron asked slowly.  
"I've read about those--"  
"What else is new?" Ron interupped her rudely. "_I've read about those_ in the book I can't find, what a coincidence."  
  
Nine o'clock that evening Harry and Ron were making their way back up to the castle after just having a particularly grueling Quidditch practice.  
"I'm cold," Ron said.  
"I'm numb. I don't even remember what being cold feels like," Harry replied miserably.  
Ron moaned, "Aren't you lucky?"  
"Oh, shut up both of you," Ginny said, annoyed, walking up behind them, "The idiot beater wacked me with his club, I fell fifty feet into two feet of snow and then it started to rain but do you hear me complaining?"  
Harry and Ron exchanged sideways glances, "Yes," Ron answered her, smiling.  
"_Oh, shut up_," she said, pushing her way between Ron and Harry, walking up to the castle very quickly. "You said that already," Ron called out to her, she was already twenty feet ahead of them. It seemed as though Ginny said nothing but a few seconds later a distant echo could be heard, "Men are such babies."  
"What's up with her," Ron asked bewildered.  
"Didn't you hear? 'The idiot beater wacked her with his club, she fell fifity feet into two feet of snow and then it started to rain,'" Harry said grinning.  
Ron grinned back then said sarcastically, "Wow, the resemblance between you two is uncanny."  
"It is true though, somebody needs to do something about those beaters..."  
Entering the Gryffindor common room twenty minutes later, they found Ginny sitting in a chair by the fireplace. When she saw Harry and Ron come in, she immediately ran over to them looking very distressed, her frostiness seemed to have melted, "Hermione's in the hospital wing!"  
"What!" Harry and Ron said at the exact same time. "Why?" Ron asked.  
"I don't know, Madam Pomfry wouldn't tell me. I saw her levitating Hermione to the hospital...she was unconscious."  
"We have to go see her," Harry said promptly, turning to go right back out the Gryffindor portriat.  
"No," Ginny replied firmly, grabbing Harry's hand to keep him from leaving, "Madam Pomfry would just tell us to leave, let's wait a little while; until she goes to sleep. Come and sit down, you two look exhausted."  
Reluctantly Harry and Ron followed her over to the fire.  
"Hermione didn't look....dead, did she?" Ron asked slowly.  
Ginny looked slightly uneasy, "No, _no_. I'm sure someone would have told us if she was--"  
Just that moment, Proffesor McGonagall entered the common room, she looked very grave. "Harry, Ron, Ginny. Hermione's in the hospital wing--"  
"We know. Is she OK?" Harry asked.  
"Is she dead?" Ron asked.  
"What happened to her?" Ginny asked.  
"Calm down! One question at a time. I understand you three are worried but the nurse said she should be fine. If she's fine, she can't very well be dead, can she Ron? And Ginny, I don't know what happened. You'll have to ask her--"  
"Well, can we go see her?" Ginny asked.  
Proffesor McGonagall looked slightly affronted at being cut off while speaking but when she answered she sounded sympathetic all the same, "I suppose you may, _but_ I don't see the point, she's still unconscious. Madam Pomfry should be able to revive her soon, she just needs to get some of that Egyptian Healing Draught from Snape. Hermione will awake on her own in the morning, I advise you see her then." "Oh alright" Ginny said looking somewhat crestfallen.  
"So, nobody knows what she was hit with?" Ron asked.  
"Madam Pomfry seems to think it was the candleholder," Proffesor McGonagall said frowning. "What? It wasn't a spell?" Harry asked bewildered.  
"No, it wasn't a spell," Proffesor McGonagall cleared her throught slightly, "A bloody candleholder was found next to her body in the library." There was silence. Then Ron's anger overtook him and he yelled, "Hermione was in the library with Nicola. She must have done it!"  
"Mr. Weasley please control yourself and research your theories before you make accusations." Proffesor McGonagall warned.  
"What are you talking about, who else could it have been?" Ron asked.  
"I don't know, but Nicola was attacked also. She isn't doing as well as Hermione, we don't know if even the Draught will help her," Professor McGonagall said grimly.  
"You mean...she could...die?" Harry asked.  
"We really don't know."  
  
Next morning Harry, Ron, Ginny and unexpectedly, Neville went to visit Hermione in the infirmary, "She's my friend too," Neville had said when they asked him why he was going.  
Harry felt terrible, not just for Hermione but for Nicola as well. He was just starting to think she wasn't that bad and now she could die.  
Entering the hospital, Harry noticed that all the beds were individually divided from the rest of the room, so he couldn't see who was in what bed. He walked over to the first one on the right, while Ron, Ginny and Neville walked around searching for Hermione in the other beds. Harry found nobody in the first three beds he searched but in the forth...he found Nicola. She looked very peaceful. A strand of hair was blocking her left eye, Harry found that he was compelled to brush it away, he did...her eye was black. He suddenly felt a surge of hatred that he couldn't explain but he didn't have very long to ponder it because Neville called out that he had found Hermione. Harry walked over to the fifth bed on the opposite side of the room, "She's sleeping," Neville continued.  
"Should we wake her up?" Ginny asked.  
"No, she should wake up soon, let's just wait a little while," Ron said.  
Harry went and pulled up a few chairs around Hermione's bed so that they all could sit down. Neville used this time to ask questions about what happened, "All we know was that someone attacked her and Nicola in the library with a candleholder." Ron explained.  
"Nicola...Lestrange?" Neville asked, even though Harry was sure Neville already knew what Nicola they were talking about.  
"Of course Nicola Lestrange, what other Nicola would we be talking ab--ouch! Ginny, what the bloody hell was that for?" Ron asked angrily, messaging his foot; Ginny just kicked it. Ginny looked startled that he didn't understand, "Absolutely nothing," she said sarcastically. Then Ron and Ginny started arguing rather loudly, Hermione stirred. "Ron?" Harry asked, Ron didn't hear him. "Ginny?" Harry asked, she didn't hear him. "_Do you think you could be a little quieter_?" They still didn't hear him, "WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP!"  
Ron and Ginny stopped yelling, "_Honestly_, Harry, you're going to wake Hermione," Ginny said grinning. She was right, Hermione was waking up.  
They all stared at her, Hermione rubbed her eyes a few times, she looked around the room and then sat up.  
"Hermione?" Ron asked. Hermione didn't answer.  
"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked. She then did something strange, Hermione looked behind herself, as if to see if she was the one he was talking to. When she saw that nobody was behind her, she answered, "Fine."  
"You were found in the library, do you remember who attacked you?" Ron asked.  
It took a while for her to answer, "No, I don't remember." Harry, Ginny, Ron and Neville looked slightly disappointed, then Hermione spoke again, "I'm sorry, but, where am I? And...who are you?"  
They all looked at each other terrified; Hermione couldn't remember them, she couldn't remember anything. 


End file.
